#97
As the morning sunlight shone on his face through the window, Oh-yul slightly furrowed his brow. His usually dark blue eyes sparkled like black jewels in the light. There was a very faint blue tinge, but compared to usual, they had turned dark.
He had made him like this. Not any other Guide, but himself.
Feeling proud and amazed, Ho-woo reached out his hand, and Oh-yul nestled his cheek into it, closing his eyes slightly. A very quiet serenity settled on his face, gently swaying.
Peaceful.
Ho-woo closed his eyes, feeling the body heat and breath transmitted through his palm. With his sight cut off, he could only sense Oh-yul, giving the feeling that only the two of them were left in the world.
Like this…
“I wish time would stop.”
Oh-yul’s voice continued naturally, as if reading Ho-woo’s thoughts. Ho-woo opened his eyes and met his lover’s gaze. His relaxed face was filled with fluffy happiness, making the corners of his mouth keep twitching upwards.
“You’ll stay by my side from now on, right?”
“I will.”
“No matter what happens?”
Ho-woo answered affirmatively several times to his lover who was acting like a spoiled child. However, to Oh-yul who seemed unable to easily believe that promise, Ho-woo asked somewhat jokingly, “Should I write you a contract?” But the response was a rather cold “That would work” answer.
Ho-woo was dumbfounded.
Wasn’t the atmosphere really soft and cute just now?
Unable to compose his expression at the suddenly businesslike atmosphere, Ho-woo asked again.
“Are you serious about writing one?”
“Yes.”
Oh-yul, with a clear face as if asking what the big deal was about writing a contract, moved the tray to the side shelf. Then he contacted someone with the pager on his wrist. Along with a short beep, a voice familiar to Ho-woo came from the pager.
“Captain, I thought you were taking the day off?”
Despite the rather annoyed voice asking why he was contacting him on his day off, Oh-yul didn’t even flinch as he said what he needed to say.
“Esper Choi Seon-woo, come to the address I’ll give you now with a corporation lawyer.”
“A lawyer? What do you need a lawyer for when you don’t need the law?”
Ho-woo’s expression became strange as he listened to Choi Seon-woo’s somewhat ambiguous words, wondering if it meant Oh-yul lived such an upright life that he didn’t need the law, or if it meant he could ignore the law without consequence.
“Just remember the address well. C district…”
Oh-yul recited the address without hesitation. Though Ho-woo worried whether one could memorize it when given like that, Choi Seon-woo didn’t seem to mind and grumbled for a different reason.
“Anyway, what’s with calling me over when I’m busy? It’ll take an hour to get there.”
Though he complained, Choi Seon-woo didn’t seem to intend to refuse Oh-yul’s order, as he informed him of the time and ended the call first.
“He says it will take about an hour.”
“You’re really serious…”
“Go wash up. We can’t receive guests like this.”
Ho-woo didn’t know what expression to make towards a boyfriend who wanted to put even a promise not to leave into a contract. Oh-yul looked anxious, and while he was currently panting with sweet happiness, he was also wary and afraid of the approaching future.
The big problem was that Ho-woo didn’t really know the reason, so he was lost in thought even as he entered the bathroom to wash before the guests arrived.
Still can’t figure it out.
When he came out after just washing his face and brushing his teeth, thanks to Oh-yul having washed him at dawn, Oh-yul was nowhere to be seen. On the bed lay neatly arranged clothes that looked new with the tags removed. The clothes, too small for the house owner and just the right size for Ho-woo, were clearly prepared by Oh-yul, so Ho-woo took off the borrowed pajama top and changed into them.
“It fits perfectly.”
Surprisingly, the clothes fit perfectly even though he had never given his size. They were comfortable to move in and close to Ho-woo’s taste. Had Oh-yul gone around among people to buy clothes? Wouldn’t he have received glares while walking alone?
Because of what had happened at the movie theater before, unnecessary worries came first. Even though he knew Oh-yul wasn’t a child and would manage well enough, emotions can’t be controlled at will, so Ho-woo’s expression became complicated.
“It suits you well, as expected.”
A soft, beautiful voice was heard from behind, indicating Oh-yul had returned to the room. Ho-woo turned towards the direction of the voice.
“This is a birthday present too, right? Thank you.”
“I gave myself as a birthday present, but it seems that wasn’t enough.”
“…”
“This is just a gift. I bought it thinking it would suit you well.”
His eyes melted softly, satisfied as he looked at Ho-woo dressed in the clothes.
“Would you like to take a tour of the house before Esper Choi Seon-woo arrives?”
“Is that okay?”
“Of course. This is our home, after all.”
Though it’s a term everyone uses, the way Oh-yul said “our home” was peculiar.
Ho-woo followed Oh-yul, who led him by the hand, looking at each room. The strange thing was that most of the rooms were empty, without even furniture. Only the dressing room with hardly any clothes hanging and the study faintly showed traces of someone having lived there.
“The house is… empty?”
“I left it empty on purpose. For later.”
Ho-woo carefully looked around the study, its walls filled with books. Most of the books were cookbooks, with many from the era before monsters appeared. The study, filled with books written in languages Ho-woo had never seen before mixed with those in familiar languages, looked like a small treasure trove.
“Authentic Italian cuisine…?”
Ho-woo carefully pulled out one of the books that seemed to have a relatively intact spine. The book, with its cover half torn off and the remaining edges charred, vividly showed the chaotic past era.
“Aren’t these books hard to get?”
“It wasn’t that difficult for me. For ordinary people, it’s impossible to go outside the city, so they’d have to pay a premium, but not for me. I picked up a few whenever I found intact ones during missions, and they accumulated like this.”
Oh-yul briefly scanned the bookshelf and pulled out a fairy tale book that seemed out of place in such a study. The book with a yellow duck drawn on it looked too childish for either Ho-woo or Oh-yul to read. He seated Ho-woo in a comfortable chair by the window and sat down at his feet, opening the book.
“We still have time, so I’ll read you a book.”
“…That one?”
Even the page Oh-yul opened had a large picture drawn on it, with only a few words visible. Why on earth was he choosing to read that? Sometimes this man was incomprehensible.
“The Ugly Duckling.”
His voice reading the book title was sweet. The low, soft resonating voice, as if whispering love, calmly read through the short fairy tale without interruption. Ho-woo gently stroked his lover’s head as he focused on the book. Oh-yul leaned slightly against Ho-woo sitting in the chair, pressing his heavy weight.
This isn’t bad either.
Ho-woo closed his eyes and focused more on Oh-yul’s voice than the content of the book. The precise pronunciation and impassive voice that barely conveyed emotion continued for a while before suddenly stopping. Since the book’s content hadn’t ended, but the voice didn’t resume, Ho-woo, who had been puzzled, soon realized the reason. A faint doorbell sound could be heard through the open door.
Oh-yul put away the book and went downstairs to open the door. Choi Seon-woo entered the house, grumbling, “Why did it take so long to open the door?” Behind him, a woman in a neatly dressed suit carrying a thick briefcase followed, looking slightly nervous.
“Hello…”
Ho-woo awkwardly bowed to the lawyer who came with Choi Seon-woo. Amidst the awkwardness, Oh-yul, the house owner, sat on the sofa first and gestured with his eyes.
“You were looking for me?”
The lawyer, sitting down at the gesture, had turned pale but didn’t show a frightened expression. She calmly found what she needed to do. As a corporation lawyer who had met many Espers, her fear was somewhat diluted, so she faced Oh-yul directly.
“We’re going to write a contract.”
Oh-yul tapped the armrest of the sofa with his fingertips and cleared his throat as if thinking.
“A contract where you have to stay by someone’s side even if you find them horrible and hate them.”
He said this as if certain that Ho-woo would come to view him that way in the future. Ho-woo felt somewhat stifled and swallowed a small groan.
The atmosphere wasn’t at all conducive to believing him when he said he wouldn’t leave. If signing would ease Oh-yul’s mind, he would do it, but… he still didn’t understand why Oh-yul was so anxious.
“You mean an exclusive contract. Shall we proceed with a private sector exclusive contract?”
“No, this is a contract between an Esper and a Guide, so the terms should be a bit different. I believe you know the significance a Guide holds for an Esper, having worked at the corporation.”
The lawyer, writing something in her notebook, responded with a businesslike, “I’ll add a clause prioritizing the Esper’s right to life.”
“This will be a contract used frequently in the future, so please draft it well as a standard contract.”
“Understood. However, it would be difficult to draft it right here, so let’s set aside time for it later.”
